So here’s that update I’ve been promising. Things at work have been somewhat more tense the last week. I think the reason is that all over the country, nurses are going on strike. Here in Tinytown things will start to get funny on Monday.
Nurses here study for four years. They’re generally very well educated and do an amazing job. They’re also mainly female, and have two employers to choose from - in other words, they’re screwed. I’m all for them getting more money.
The only “but” there is that I wish they wouldn’t have to strike for it. It should just be bloody obvious to people that you should pay them according to the quality of their work, which they’re not right now. So they’re striking.
The thing is of course, that without them, nothing works. So even though the doctors, secretaries, assistant nurses and so on are working, the units in which the nurses are striking are still closing down.
In our hospitals it’s basically surgery, medicine and the ER. Of course they’re always taking real emergencies (meaning, if you have a heart attack, no one will send you home, but if you come in with a sore throat you’re out of luck) and the hospitals here and in Slightly-Bigger-Town are working together, so that the ER is open in one of the two.
Since I’m working in GP right now, for me this means that lots of the patients who would have gone to the ER during the night or weekend (the sore throat variety) will now be calling us in the morning instead.
The nurses’ union has asked for neutrality from the doctors’ union which has been granted. Meaning, we are not supposed to do any additional work that would normally done by nurses, so as not to dilute the effects of the strike.
Our nurses in GP won’t strike, and we have received a note that while we are to be neutral, our employer has the right to revoke free days and to prolong working hours. Which they promptly did, and I don’t especially like having ten minute appointments - mostly because I think my patients don’t really like having those, there’s not too much time to get any kind of talk, trust or relationship going. And of course they’re saying, this is neutrality because you’re not doing the nurses’ work, you’re doing the work the doctors in the ER would normally do! Which to me doesn’t really fly, and I feel like a strike breaker.
It makes me feel uneasy. There’s nothing I can do about it, really, and I can see on the other hand how it’s better the patient get a short appointment than not getting any, but - well, it’s making me uneasy. I remember when I was five, six years old and my grandfather was the president of Germany’s textile union, and how I would walk with him on the May 1st demonstrations, being proud of my red carnation broche. I have been thinking a lot about him these last days. He was an interesting man, managing to combine his work with being a conservative Christian (and voting as one). It has always fascinated me, even though I see myself neither as socialistic or conservative.
All that’s just to say, hey, work’s been a bit strange.
Friday our Diabetes nurse (who is awesome by the way, and one of the prime examples why they should really get 15% more pay - she knows more about diabetes than any doctor I know) took my bloodpressure. And, yikes. My mom has high bloodpressure, and I know that she found out when she was my age. I have been taking it just to see because of that in the past, but then I remembered I hadn’t checked in a long time.
Anyway, she was alarmed enough to give me the 24 hours - erm, thingo? You know, you fix the cuff on your arm and have a cable around your shoulder, and a little box on a belt that you’re carrying for 24 hours. It checks every 30 minutes, and every hour at night.
Yes, that does mean I didn’t sleep tonight, because every hour the damn thing made BZZZZZZZZZZZZ and blew up until I thought my arm would fall off. ARGH.
And just in case I will deny it later, if I’m lying over 140/90 average, I shall do the exercise thing till the end of the year to see if it makes a difference. Because I would so love to not have meds for the rest of my life. At least not yet 
On the light side, I’ve been stitching and I’ve finished the Hinzeit Doctor block today, YAY! I’m so very proud of it. While I was working at it I had to keep thinking about how I’m so glad I made it through med school, and thankful that my parents put me through it. I’m happy that I have a job that lets me feel that I sometimes make a difference. It’s the best feeling I know. And while I know that there should be other things in my life that make me happier than my job - well, maybe sometime there will be, but right now I’m just glad I’ve got that. It’s a great thing to have. I feel like I’m doing a good thing, and like I’m doing something I’m good at.
Sentimental blah-blah aside, here you go:
This is it without all the charms attached, because they will be hiding a big part of the caducei:
And this is it with the charms:
And two close ups that show the charms better. They’re adorable, I will definitely do more Hinzeit designs in the future.
This design does mean a lot to me, and I definitely want to buy a frame for it. I don’t know if I should get the frame that’s meant for it and shown in the picture (see in the last post or on Webshots) because I used such different colours, and I would love to have something in another colour. Right now I don’t have the money anyway, but it’s definitely something I want to save for.
Popularity: 54% [?]
Tags: Doctor, Doctor Stuff, Finish, Hinzeit, Memories, Pesky Real Life, Stitching
